To say our Boilers need a big win tonight versus Michigan is an understatement. After I mentioned their highest RPI of the season a bit over a week ago (at 66), they lost a game on the road that they should have won and then were lambasted by Wisconsin at home...so the small bit of momentum they had built up was depleted, their RPI fell into to around 110 and talk of an NCAA tournament for the Forces of Good has once-again ceased.

But just as inconsistency has been Purdue's constant in the '13-'14 season, the B1G, as a conference has been a pretty up-and-down league (with the exception of MSU, Iowa and UM).

aOSU, who was a top-10 team and was leading the league just weeks ago, has now dropped five of its last six. Last night, they fell to PSU.

Wisconsin looked like they had figured out what was ailing them during a strong second half versus our Boilers on Saturday. But (also last night) they floundered to a loss to the enigmatic Northwestern Wildcats.

Illinois entered the B1G season as a ranked team for the second-straight season only to drop their last six...and the bad news is, they face Iowa and Wisconsin in their next two.

Discussions among Purdue fans on message boards and Twitter alike have ranged from disgruntled grumbling to verbal fights, it seems. For the second straight season, Purdue is an also-ran in the strongest basketball conference in America, and many Boiler Backers and alums find this pill difficult to swallow. I'd argue that most Purdue fans think that this team, with that many talented players on the squad, and a coach who was once regarded as one of the nation's best should be doing better at this point. But regardless of what many think and wish Matty's team was, their record tells the true story of what they really are.

There seems to be a small but vocal group of Purdue fans who resigned themselves to believing another non-NCAA tourney season is not only OK, but somewhat expected. They argue that all programs have down times and that this team is young. I guess I don't really care about those arguments at this point. What I do care about is that my favorite diversion, my favorite winter past time, watching Purdue basketball, has become a chore in itself...and that stinks. Nothing changes my allegiance...it's just not as fun watching them play a really crappy brand of basketball for the second-straight season...and the growth that I assured people we'd see this season is nowhere to be found.

I've beaten this premise to a bloody pulp over the last month...but this season kind of feels like Bill Murray's Groundhog Day as our Boilers struggle to find a fluid offense and refuse stop anyone on the defensive side of the ball. Outside of offense and defense though, this team looks rock solid (what?).

For the record, again, I'm not asking for Painter to be fired (but I've already said that a few hundred times). BUT, again, I don't enjoy the product on the court...and like the record even less.

Tonight's game airs from Ann Arbor on BTN at 9:00 pm. Like you, I'll be tuning in because I have a disease.

Dunking BDowd

If you don't follow us on Twitter or have gotten too sick of the back-biting among your fellow Boilers, you might have missed a link of me dunking on a door frame hoop. Sure, that might not be a big deal to you, but when you're 3ft 5in, like myself, it's a huuuuuuuge deal.

OK, I'm exaggerating my shortness a bit...but our pals at Two:Five Apparel have a weekly FB feature called Throwdown Thursday, and I was featured on it. So if you wan to see the round mound of BDowd on video, click this link and give it a "like". The owners of the company are fellow Boilers and if nothing else would love a little traffic on their page.

EVERYTHING MUST GO!!

Due to sizes dwindling, we're going to try to clear out the last of the "Get Hammered" t-shirts in the next month. Here's the deal:

If you want one (the ad is still on the right side of the page --->), we'll now sell them for $12...including shipping and a "Choo Choo Muthas" sticker!!! E-mail us at boiledsports at gmail.com (the space and 'at' added to stop spambots, of course).

XLs are now gone; sorry.